It's all about "jobs, jobs, jobs" — until it isn't. Time after time, the provincial government has told citizens and communities to set aside their concerns because jobs come first.
Worried about mining poisoning our land and waters? "But think of the jobs!”
Don't want public lands to be clearcut? "But think of the jobs!”
Don’t want a provincial park to be destroyed for a golf course? "But think of the jobs!"
Environmental, health and community impacts have often been presented as the price of employment. From open-net pen fish farms to the Donkin coal mine, and green hydrogen to fracking, politicians have repeatedly used the promise of jobs to diminish people’s concerns and stifle debate.
"Jobs" has been the ultimate political currency, a veritable get-out-of-jail-free card.
Until now.
The revised “Defending Nova Scotia” budget is still full of devastating cuts — cuts that will destabilize or eliminate programs, support and workers.
Despite what we've always been told, it's not really about jobs. It's not really about the economy. It’s not really about the deficit.
It's about values. And it always has been.
We're being told that the province has to cut funding to the arts, education, tourism, heritage and culture that shape our province. But the budget allocates plenty of funds for the mining sector, including $28 million related to digitizing geoscience assets and $300,000 to support "Mining Industry Growth."
The government is slashing funding for the Student Transit Pass Program, but budgeting $4.4 million to establish artificial intelligence capabilities.
The government is reducing funding for Domestic Violence Courts, but putting another $1 million toward the SailGP yacht race, co-founded by American tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
The Houston government is proposing to reduce the core government workforce by five per cent and the broader civil service by an additional three per cent this year and each of the next three years. Yet, they seemingly had no qualms giving MLAs a 29 percent raise last year.
It's more evident than ever what this government is “defending,” and it’s not our way of life, our land or even our jobs.
Where was the government’s age-old “jobs” argument when they released 13 pages of cuts to programs and grants?
Where is the government’s “jobs” argument, now that 1,000 full-time equivalent positions are on the chopping block this year alone?
Art that moves us. Education that inspires us. Culture that defines us... Not only do these things have tremendous intrinsic value, but they also create jobs — lots of them. According to Statistics Canada’s Culture Satellite Account (2020), culture contributes $989 million to Nova Scotia's GDP and accounts for roughly 14,000 jobs. For scale, that’s more jobs than farming, fishing and forestry combined.
The non-profit sector in Nova Scotia employs 21,000 people and contributes $1.425 billion to the province’s GDP— three times more than mining, oil and gas.
Whether it’s in our traditional industries, or newer areas like renewable energy and ecological forestry, one thing remains constant: Nova Scotians need and deserve good jobs — not just government talking points.
Governments in Nova Scotia have long been seduced by the lure of megaprojects and heavy industry, using the “jobs” argument as a shield from criticism.
It’s not the jobs themselves that are the problem, but the persistent double standard: the government promotes jobs in certain sectors at all costs, while showing us that — to them — others are entirely expendable.
At minimum, one would hope that our elected representatives would recognize and support jobs in publishing, writing, theatre, museums and heritage, tourism, community organizations and the civil service, just as they do jobs in heavy industry.
You could argue that now it’s the premier’s turn to “think of the jobs,” and you’d be right. But to this government, jobs were never the point— they were the pretext for projects that politicians and their industry partners wanted to push through.
We’ve all seen behind the curtain; the Houston government’s willingness to sacrifice a thousand full-time workers this year alone has completely discredited its own jobs argument. If nothing else, this budget has shown just how hollow and selective the jobs argument has always been.
Lindsay Lee is the wilderness community outreach coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre.